One of the things the orthodontist assistant who put my braces on told me, was to beware of hard food. Now, remember – my goddaughter had me all freaked out that I’d only be able to eat soup and tortillas for the next year and a half of my life before I went in to get my braces put on.
No peanuts – it degrades the adhesive of the brackets.
No caramel – for the obvious reasons. This is of no consequence to me, as I dislike caramel greatly.
No gum – just to be mean I think.
The list went on. And she told me, if we all recall what a mean little girl she is, that I wouldn’t be able to eat for weeks.
We’ve since determined she may have been a little overly dramatic about all of that. I was told to avoid peanuts just because they are a little hard to bite, not because of any adhesive degradation…but cashews are fine. And I’m encouraged to chew gum. It keeps my teeth working and keeps them from getting sore.
Chris and I were talking over some yummy Taco Bell (as we like to do), and I was telling her how I really haven’t had any problems with hard food. I’ve not been chewing on soda cans, but I’ve had some peanuts, crunchy granola bars, and such things without any issues.
Now, there’s a wife from Craig’s office that makes great treats. Yummy cookies and other goods. She sent some of her holiday goodies into the office, and Craig brought some of it home to share with the bunny wife he loves sooooo much. He’s so good to me.
It looked like something that maybe I should refrain from. Something Dr. Eric would waggle his finger at me about. “no, no, no.” But….since I hadn’t been having any trouble with hard food, I decided to go ahead and try a small, teeny, tiny little piece.
And so, as it turns out….I maybe shouldn’t have eaten Lexi’s happy little treat. Even a small, teeny, tiny piece. The end, anchor bracket popped right off my tooth. GREAT!
It was a Saturday morning. The weekend before Christmas. The chance of my doctor being open? Yeah – not so much.
So I had to live with a loose bracket that kept turning itself over when I ate and cut into my gum throughout the weekend. Not an unsuitable punishment I’m sure. Thankfully, they were able to get me in Monday morning.
They didn’t so much fix the bracket (as they weren’t really even open – it was their “deep clean the office” week, and a technician agreed to see me).
They removed the end bracket and tied the wire off at the next in line. When I go in to see them for my regular appointment in 2 weeks they will put the anchor back on when they put the new wire in. And the good news is, that the braces are still working – even without the end bracket. So no real damage done.
The lesson?
When you have braces….maybe stay away from food such as….oh…I don’t know – I’ll just pick something completely-unrelated-I-would-never-be-foolish-enough-to try-eating-with-braces:
Peanut brittle.
((sigh))
